In a study suggesting that red wine might be the next big thing in breast cancer prevention, a study has found that women who drank just under two servings of red wine daily experienced hormonal changes that mimic the effects of a drug used to prevent malignant breast tumors from coming back.

The study, published Friday in the Journal of Women’s Health, found that consuming the same amount of white wine did not have the same effect in premenopausal women participating in the study.

The authors asserted this was the first rigorous study to find that red wine is a “nutritional aromatase inhibitor in healthy premenopausal women.” Another study has found that women who drank more red wine showed less breast density on mammograms–an emerging marker for breast cancer risk– than those who drank other forms of alcohol.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-breast-cancer-red-wine-study-says-20120106,0,2119902.story

2 p.m. Sunday Jan. 15 at the Ridgewood Racquet Club, 249 Ackerman Ave., Ridgewood.  Dr. Rosalyn Stahl,  Associate Director of Pathology and the Director of the High Risk Breast Cancer Program at Englewood Hospital, will talk about understanding  pathology reports and explain individual reports.  Dr. Stahl is an advocate for patients understanding their tests and taking control of their health care decisions. The program is presented by Tennis for Life, a non-profit support group which welcomes people in any phase of the breast cancer experience to free indoor tennis lessons and matches to improve their quality of life. Free. 201 894-3232 or yoyojanet@aol.com

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Breast cancer experts are cheering what could be some of the biggest advances in more than a decade: two new medicines that significantly delay the time until women with very advanced cases get worse.

In a large international study, an experimental drug from Genentech called pertuzumab held cancer at bay for a median of 18 months when given with standard treatment, versus 12 months for others given only the usual treatment. It also strongly appears to be improving survival, and follow-up is continuing to see if it does.

“You don’t see that very often. … It’s a spectacular result,” said one study leader, Dr. Sandra Swain, medical director of Washington Hospital Center’s cancer institute.

In a second study, another drug long used in organ transplants but not tried against breast cancer — everolimus, sold as Afinitor by Novartis AG — kept cancer in check for a median of 7 months in women whose disease was worsening despite treatment with hormone-blocking drugs. A comparison group that received only hormonal medicine had just a 3-month delay in disease progression.

Afinitor works in a novel way, seems “unusually effective” and sets a new standard of care, said Dr. Peter Ravdin, breast cancer chief at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio. He has no role in the work or ties to drugmakers. Most patients have tumors like those in this study — their growth is fueled by estrogen. http://www.northjersey.com/news/national/Big_promise_is_seen_in_2_new_breast_cancer_drugs.html

The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on Friday revoked the approval of the drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer, ruling in an emotional issue that pitted the hopes of some desperate patients against the statistics of clinical trials.

The commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, said that the drug was not helping breast cancer patients to live longer or control their tumors, but did expose them to potentially serious side effects such as severe high blood pressure and hemorrhaging.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/business/fda-revokes-approval-of-avastin-as-breast-cancer-drug.html?_r=1&hp